Contact Federal Government Officials
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for free:
Or use Resistbot: https://resist.bot/
Or use StampsLicked to have
messages hand-delivered to our own legislators:
https://stampslicked.org/
White House
contact: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/white-house
1.
THE MUELLER REPORT:
On Wednesday, The New York
Times and the Washington Post both released stories indicating that lawyers
involved in the Mueller investigation are concerned that Barr is down-playing
the truth of the situation. This provides an opportunity to keep up our steady
drumbeat about releasing the Mueller Report in full:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/437443-democrats-seize-on-mueller-barr-friction While the House unanimously passed a
resolution to have the full report released, the same resolution was stopped in
the Senate yesterday. https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/437414-paul-blocks-resolution-calling-for-release-of-mueller-report This is all
the more troubling since it was divulged that Mueller’s team provided their own
summary of their report that was to be for public distribution. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/limited-information-barr-has-shared-about-russia-investigation-frustrated-some-on-muellers-team/2019/04/03/c98e8a02-567a-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.51ec9830bca7 Let’s
stay in touch with our MoC to say that we expect the whole report to be
released immediately.
2.
GUN CONTROL/VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: Yesterday, the House defied the NRA and passed a
renewal of the Violence Against Women Act with the new red flag provisions that
would prevent people with a history of domestic abuse from obtaining guns, closing
up what is sometimes called the “boyfriend loophole”. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/437348-house-votes-to-reauthorize-violence-against-women-act-close-the-boyfriend?userid=200565. Thirty-three Republicans broke party lines and
voted for the bill. Now the bill heads to the Senate. Let’s make sure to
tell our Senators that we expect them to support this bill with this
common-sense provision that prioritizes the safety and security of women over
the rights of gun owners.
3.
DRUG PRICES: Hidden in Trump’s proposed changes to NAFTA is a
provision that could vastly increase drug prices, making potentially lifesaving
treatments out of reach for many of us. Drug companies would have 10 years
protection from cheaper competition in a category of already extremely
expensive drugs. Without that competition, drug prices could skyrocket, and
people’s lives will be further at risk. https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article228416529.html However, Trump can only change NAFTA if Congress
lets him. We can contact our MoCs and tell them to oppose any concessions
to big drug companies. We can also sign Bold Progressive’s petition to
Congressional Democrats here: http://act.boldprogressives.org/survey/petition-nafta-2
4.
INTERIOR SECRETARY NOMINEE--ETHICS ISSUES: David Bernhardt, Trump’s new pick for Secretary of
the Interior has been voted on by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee and is awaiting a confirmation vote by the Senate. However, there are
reports that Bernhardt was a key voice in suppressing a scientific report on
the effects of pesticides on endangered species. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/437429-dems-call-for-probe-of-trump-nominees-role-in-pesticide-report. A number of Democratic Senators and two outside
groups are now calling for the Interior Inspector General to conduct an
investigation. Let’s tell our Senators to delay Bernhardt’s confirmation
vote until this issue is resolved.
5.
DISABILITY RIGHTS: From ADAPT: This week, thanks to the hard work of advocates
like you, Congress passed H.R 1839, the Medicaid Services Investment and
Accountability Act of 2019. This bill extends the expired HCBS spousal
impoverishment protections to Sept. 31, 2019 and provides an additional $20
million to the $120 million in the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program, for
use by Sept. 31, 2019. Call your Members of Congress to thank them for
passing H.R. 1839 and ask them to co-sponsor and support the EMPOWER Care Act (H.R. 1342/S. 548).
6.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has
disbanded its domestic terrorism unit (https://bit.ly/2WK40qa). Meanwhile, the rate of right extremist attacks
continues to rise both in the U.S. and abroad (https://nyti.ms/2WM6sfY, https://bit.ly/2UgiXn5). Mary B. McCord and Jason M. Blazakis have
written a piece on Lawfare Blog, detailing the importance of and process by
which Congress could enact federal statute against domestic terrorism, making
it a federal crime (https://bit.ly/2UpWnb3). Let's read through the article, then
contact our MoC and urge them to work on this legislation ASAP.
7.
PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD: A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a
bill, HR1965, that would admit Puerto Rico into the union
as the 51st state without a referendum on the island's territorial status.
We can read more at CBSNews. Let's contact our representatives to let
them know we support statehood for Puerto Rico and want them to cosponsor
HR1965.
8.
RULE CHANGE WILL PACK THE COURTS: President Donald Trump’s Senate GOP allies,
frustrated by delays in confirming dozens of lower-profile nominees, rammed
through a rules change Wednesday that cuts back debate on most of his picks.
The rules change limits debate on most nominees to two hours instead of 30.
Every Democrat opposed the maneuver, joined by two Republicans: Susan Collins
of Maine and Mike Lee of Utah. Schumer said McConnell was Machiavellian,
cynical and hypocritical, and used his speech to recount a series of GOP power
plays. “This is a very sad day for the Senate. At a time when Leader McConnell
brags about confirming more judges than anyone has done in a very long time, he
feels the need to invoke the terribly destructive and disproportionate
procedure of the ‘nuclear option’ in order to fast-track even more of President
Trump’s ultra-conservative nominees to the federal bench,” Schumer said. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-gop-to-change-debate-time-rules-on-trump-nominees. Call your GOP senators, and tell them
you don’t want the rule change and they have lost your vote.
9.
IN-PERSON PUBLIC COMMENT: “On Friday, April 12, 2019, in Washington, DC, the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold an in-person public comment session
on the condition of immigration detention centers and status of treatment of
immigrants, including children.” We
can find out more about this and how to sign up to speak here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-comment-session-immigrant-detention-treatment-tickets-59108479052
10. RESTORE
NET NEUTRALITY: The Save the Internet Act
could be headed to a full floor vote as early as next week. Cable and phone
company lobbyist will be pressuring our Representatives hard to vote against it
or neuter it with amendments allowing them to throttle traffic, censor content
and impose unfair fees. To be effective, the bill must pass just as it is and our
Congress members need to hear that from us. When we click this
link, we can send a prewritten letter, which we can edit, then be
connected to our Representative’s office and given a script to use if we want: https://www.battleforthenet.com/
Elections
1.
APRIL ELECTIONS: “So far in April, there are 29 elections scheduled.
If one of these is in your district, make sure you vote! For everyone else,
please share this with your network to spread the word in order to increase
awareness and turnout!” Let’s check
this out: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/03/28/elections-in-april-2019/
2.
ELECTION RESULTS - POSTCARDS TO VOTERS CAMPAIGNS: a) Campaign 146: Lisa Neubauer for WI State Supreme Court. The conservative
Republican challenger appears to have won; a recount is still possible. More
at The Daily Cardinal. b) Campaign 148: Pam Iovino for PA State Senate. We flipped this seat!
More at The Hill. c) Campaign 149: Sara Sadat for Lisle IL Trustee. We flipped this seat!
More at Patch/Lisle. Let's continue to help Postcards To Voters get out
the vote.
3.
NOTABLE ELECTION RESULTS: a) Chicago mayor: Lori Lightfoot,
who identifies as a lesbian, will be Chicago’s first woman of color to serve as
mayor making the Windy City the largest US city to pick an openly gay
mayor. More at USAToday. b) Madison WI mayor: Satya
Rhodes-Conway will be the city's first openly gay mayor, defeating "Mayor
for Life" Paul Soglin by about 18,000 votes. More at Journal Sentinel. Let's continue to support progressive
LGBTQ candidates.
4.
NEWEST POSTCARDING CAMPAIGN: Postcards To Voters' volunteers are reaching VIP
Democratic voters in Lincoln NE with Campaign 151: James Bowers for Lincoln City Council. James would be
Lincoln’s first openly LGBTQ City Council member. Let's help Democrats
flip this seat blue by requesting 5 addresses for Lincoln NE voters today.
5.
POSTCARDS TO VOTERS: Campaign 150: Stephanie Cleveland and Mukesh Parna for Frisco Texas City Council is still open. Let's
request 5 addresses today for this May 4 election.
Other Actions
1.
RELEASE THE REPORT PROTESTS: If we attended one of the 100’s of nationwide
#ReleaseTheReport protests on Thursday, let’s take a moment to thank the
organizers of the one we attended.
2.
FLINT WATER CRISIS: Flint is still in the process of replacing the
city's pipes, but there is progress being made (https://www.nrdc.org/media/2019/190212). On Thursday, April 11th, the ACLU of
Michigan, NRDC, Concerned
Pastors for Social Action, and Water You Fighting For? will be joining together to host a live
discussion on Facebook. Let's plan on attending, and for those of us
who would like to submit a question, we can leave a comment on the event
page here, or send
it via email to: flintpiperemoval@gmail.com
3.
POSTCARD DESIGN CONTEST: Postcards4VA works to flip Virginia blue by enabling folks
in VA and all over the country to send handwritten get-out-the-vote postcards
to VA voters. In the run-up to the 2019 statehouse elections, Postcards4VA is
teaming up with the Virginia Women’s Summit for
Political Engagement to run a postcard
design contest. Winning designs will be available for purchase online, with
proceeds supporting the effort to flip VA blue in 2019. Let’s learn
more about the contest and submit our own original designs here: https://postcards4va.com/contest/
4.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Trump didn’t like their conclusions, so he
disbanded the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment
in August 2017; now 12 committee members and some additional scientists have
revived this committee as the Science for Climate Action Network, with funding
from Columbia University and the American Meteorological Society. Their
new report warns that we are at risk from the impacts of a warming planet due
to a muddled response to climate science, and they hope to create a
“civil-society-based climate assessment consortium” to focus predominately on
tackling the problems climate change poses for local stakeholders:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/04/climate-change-trump-advisory-group-report-warning-global-warming Let’s spread the word and encourage our
community leaders to use this new resource, especially in areas at risk from
the natural disasters brought about by climate change.
5.
DISCRIMINATION ALERT: Two black teenagers say they were recently rejected
from jobs at Six Flags Over Texas because of their hairstyles. Let's read more
at Dallas News. It's time to put a stop to this type of racial
profiling. Let's contact
Six Flags to demand that they change their policies
regarding these hairstyles.
6.
SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS PATAGONIA: The policy
for the coveted Patagonia vest for corporate clients is being changed. The company “will focus on selling to
do-gooder B Corporations, i.e., companies with a charity element or that
have committed to supporting causes like “community” or “the environment.” All
those evil hedge funds and “Uber-for-X” tech startups can go pound sand.” https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/patagonia-power-vest-policy-change Let’s
thank Patagonia for the example they are providing: https://www.patagonia.com/customer-service.html
State Actions
1.
STATES: MOST (SCHOOL LUNCH NUTRITION STANDARDS
ROLLBACK: Six states (NY, MN, CA, NM,
IL, VT) and The District of Columbia are suiting the Trump administration for
rolling back the nutritional standards in school lunch programs championed by
former First Lady, Michelle Obama. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/states-sue-trump-admin-rollbacks-school-lunch-standards/story?id=62138425. The Plaintiffs are arguing that the rollback endangers
the health of children and that the new standards do not conform to “ the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommendations of the National Academy
of Sciences, and scientific research regarding children’s nutrition.” Let’s
ask our Attorney
General to join this lawsuit. Providing healthy food to
children at school should not be a partisan issue.
2.
MI: WOMEN'S RIGHTS: From Mothering Justice: "Every year Mothering Justice heads to the
capital to increase the visibility of mothers' of color. Let's let legislators
know that we show up, we vote, and we matter. Ride to Lansing with us, MARCH at
the capital, and talk to your legislators." This year's event will be on
Thursday, May 2nd from 10:00am-1:00pm. Let's sign up to participate in
the Lansing Mamas' March, and stand up for mothers across Michigan: https://www.facebook.com/events/435881763825667/
3.
MO: CONCEAL
CARRY: “Late in the evening of
April 2, without telling the public or their constituents, the Missouri House approved
their Guns Anywhere Guns Everywhere plan by passing HB 575. The
Missouri House just passed a bill that allows someone to carry a concealed and
loaded gun ... to a Kindergarten classroom.”
Let’s sign this petition from It Starts
Today Missouri to speak against this:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-the-missouri-legislature-we-oppose-guns-everywhere
4.
NC: IMMIGRATION/ICE: The state House has passed HB 370, a "show me your papers" bill which would
require sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
and determine if anyone charged with a crime is a legal resident of the U.S. (https://bit.ly/2WOim97). If legal status could not be determined, or if
the person is found to be undocumented, ICE would be contacted and that person
may be detained. North Carolina's Sheriffs' Association and the ACLU of North
Carolina have both come out against the bill. Let's contact Governor
Roy Cooper to tell him that this bill must not pass; if the Senate passes HB
370, we want him to veto it: https://governor.nc.gov/contact/contact-governor-cooper
5.
VA—WOMEN’S SUMMIT FOR POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT: The progressive community-building group Network
NoVA is holding a summit for women June 28, 29 & 30, 2019 at Hilton McLean,
Tysons Corner, VA. Let’s go and learn how we can flip VA blue,
together. Register here: https://networknova.org/
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to
attend/organize
1.
WORKPLACE HARASSMENT: This Thursday, April 6th, UltraViolet
will be hosting a webinar training, focusing on a new workplace anti-harassment
bill that is being introduced in Congress. The webinar will discuss the bill,
and how we can help pressure our MoC to support it. Let's sign up here, or if
we can't make it, we can have the recording sent to us.
2.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: As Mother’s Day approaches, marking the first Black
Mama’s Bail Out day, we can join the weekly Wednesday webinars offered by
the National Bail Out Collective and learn more about planning a successful
bail out action this year:
Reading/Watching
1.
The Part About MLK White People Don’t Like to Talk
About - https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/the-part-about-mlk-white-people-don2019t-like-to-talk-about-20190121
2.
Julián Castro crafts plan to grant citizenship path
to millions of unauthorized immigrants - https://www.dallasnews.com/news/elections-2020/2019/04/02/julin-castro-unveils-plan-decriminalize-illegal-immigration-grant-citizenship-path-millions
3.
George Mason Students Demand School Rescind Supreme
Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Teaching Invitation - https://www.newsweek.com/george-mason-students-demand-school-rescind-supreme-court-justice-brett-1385025
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